How to loop a video in OBS Studio, and run it 24/7

1. Loop one video with a Media Source

The Media Source is OBS's built-in video player. Per the OBS knowledge base, checked on October 28, 2026, it plays .mp4, .ts, .mov, .flv, .mkv, .avi, .gif and .webm video on Windows, macOS and Linux. The steps:

1. In the main window, find the Sources dock at the bottom. The quick start guide says: "Click on the + symbol to add a source of your choice."
2. Choose Media Source, give it a name and click OK.
3. In the properties window, leave Local File ticked and browse to your video.
4. Tick Loop. This is the setting that makes the video repeat.
5. Check the other boxes against the table below, then click OK.

A loop is only as smooth as the file. If the last frame and the first frame do not match, viewers see a jump every time the video restarts. Cut the video so it ends where it begins, or fade to black at both ends, and make sure the audio does not end with a click. Our guide to making ambient videos covers seamless loops.

2. Loop several videos

A Media Source plays one file. For a playlist there are two ways.

VLC Video Source

The OBS knowledge base describes it as similar to a Media Source, but "you can create a playlist of items". There is a catch first: "It requires that VLC be installed on your system to show up as an available source in OBS Studio." The KB also notes: "If you are using 64-bit OBS, you must install 64-bit VLC." Once VLC is installed:

1. Click + in the Sources dock and choose VLC Video Source.
2. Add your files to the playlist in the properties window, in the order you want.
3. Keep Loop Playlist on. OBS says it "Specifies whether the source should restart when it has run out of media files", and it is on by default.
4. Turn on Shuffle Playlist if you want a random order (off by default).
5. Leave Visibility Behaviour on its default, "Stop when not visible, restart when visible", unless you switch scenes.

Or join the files into one

If the clips share the same format (same codec, resolution and frame rate, as when they come from the same export preset), ffmpeg can join them into one file without re-encoding. Then loop that one file with a Media Source. List the files in a text file called list.txt:

file 'clip1.mp4'
file 'clip2.mp4'

Then run:

ffmpeg -f concat -safe 0 -i list.txt -c copy playlist.mp4

We tested this on our server on October 28, 2026 with ffmpeg 7.0.2: two 4-second 720p H.264 clips with AAC audio became one 8-second file with both streams copied. If your clips come from different sources, the copy will not join them cleanly; re-export them with the same settings first.

3. Set up the scene and start the stream

A 24/7 loop needs very little in OBS:

• One scene with the Media Source or VLC Video Source, resized to fill the canvas. Right-click the source and use Transform to fit it to the screen if it does not.
• Overlays, if you want them, on top: a text source with the channel name, an image with a logo. Each extra source is more work for the computer every second it is live.
• Audio: check in the audio mixer that the video's sound is there and not muted, and mute the microphone and desktop audio so nothing from the room or the PC leaks into the stream.
• Stream settings: the service, the stream key and the output settings. We do not repeat them here; Loopcast has guides to finding your YouTube stream key and YouTube encoder settings for a 24/7 loop.

Before you leave it, watch the stream on YouTube through at least one full pass of the loop, including the moment it restarts. If you wonder whether a looped video is allowed as a live stream at all, Loopcast answers whether looping a pre-recorded video is allowed on YouTube.

4. Turn up automatic reconnect

When the connection to YouTube drops, OBS can try again on its own. The setting is in Settings, Advanced, under Automatically Reconnect, with two values: Retry Delay and Maximum Retries. The OBS wiki lists "Configure Automatic Reconnect" among the few Advanced settings useful to new streamers, and warns about the rest: "Do not touch anything else in Advanced unless you absolutely know what you're doing."

The knowledge base does not list the defaults, so we read them in the OBS source code on GitHub on October 28, 2026:

The delay is only the first wait. In the source, each failed attempt multiplies the wait by about 1.5, up to a cap of 15 minutes between attempts. With the defaults, that adds up to roughly three hours of trying before OBS stops for good. An internet outage that lasts the night ends the stream, and it stays off until you press Start Streaming again. For a 24/7 loop, set Maximum Retries to the top of its range; at 15 minutes a try, 10,000 tries is far longer than any outage.

Reconnect only covers the connection. If OBS itself crashes or closes, nothing in OBS brings it back.

5. What breaks on a 24/7 run from a home PC

OBS can loop a video forever. The things around it are what stop the stream:

• Sleep. A PC that goes to sleep stops streaming. Set the power plan so the computer never sleeps; turning the screen off is fine.
• Updates and reboots. Windows restarts to install updates, and after a restart OBS is not running. Set your active hours and check for pending restarts, and plan a weekly look at the PC.
• Starting again after a reboot or power cut. OBS has a launch parameter for this. The OBS knowledge base lists --startstreaming, "Automatically start streaming.", and --scene "name", "Start with given scene." Add them to an OBS shortcut, put the shortcut in your startup folder, and set the PC to log in on its own; then the loop comes back after a restart. Set the BIOS to power on after a power loss as well.
• Long internet outages. Past the reconnect limit above, the stream ends. A cable to the router is steadier than Wi-Fi.
• Your upload, all day. The stream uses your upload around the clock, so video calls and backups at home compete with it. Check your internet plan for a data cap.
• Power, heat and noise. As an example of the arithmetic: a computer that draws 100 W uses 2.4 kWh a day, which at $0.20 per kWh is $0.48 a day, or about $14.40 over 30 days. A gaming desktop under load can draw several times that; a plug-in power meter tells you your real figure.
• The PC is busy. Gaming or editing on the same machine while it streams can drop frames from the stream.

And one YouTube rule applies however you stream: "If your stream exceeds 12 hours, it may not be captured at all." YouTube's advice is "We recommend recording a local archive as a backup." A 24/7 stream will not leave a full recording on the channel. Our guide to live stream time limits explains the rule.

6. OBS on your PC or a hosted loop

OBS is free, works with any platform that takes a stream key, and lets you build any scene you like, with overlays, a webcam or a live chat box. A hosted loop service does one thing: it streams a video file you upload, on repeat, from a datacenter. Here is how they compare for a looped video that should run for weeks.

Our view: if your PC is on all day anyway and you want overlays or live parts, OBS is the right tool and costs nothing. If the stream is a plain video loop and the PC would stay on only for the stream, a hosted loop removes every item in section 5 except the YouTube archive rule.

Before you leave it running

1. The source has Loop (Media Source) or Loop Playlist (VLC Video Source) on.
2. The video loops cleanly: watch the restart on the live stream at least once.
3. Microphone and desktop audio are muted; only the video's sound goes out.
4. Maximum Retries under Automatically Reconnect is raised well above 25.
5. The PC never sleeps, and OBS starts streaming on its own after a restart.
6. You know your upload speed, data cap and roughly what the PC costs to run each day.
7. You keep the video file and any highlights yourself, because a 24/7 stream has no full replay.

FAQ